Nursery revamp 'can harm baby': Laying new flooring or carpets could damage unborn child's health

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Revamp: Putting in new flooring and carpets for a newborn's room could cause breathing difficulties

It is only natural to want your home to be perfect before your baby is born.

But laying new flooring could damage your unborn child’s health, experts warn.

They have found new flooring can cause breathing problems in babies, and new carpets were particularly harmful.

The German researchers asked more than 450 mothers about their health and their baby’s health, and whether they had redecorated during pregnancy or in the first year after birth. 

They were asked to specify if they had bought new furniture and if they had laid new flooring including carpets, laminate and PVC sheeting.

Air samples from their homes were tested for volatile organic compounds, chemicals that are released by flooring glues or the flooring itself.

This revealed a clear link between new flooring and breathing problems, with babies most likely to be affected if work was done when they were still in the womb, the journal Environment International reports.

Children whose parents had a history of allergy were more than five times as likely to be treated by their doctor for wheezing by the age of one if new flooring was put in during pregnancy. 

The researchers, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, said avoiding powerful glues reduces the amount of chemicals but doesn’t eliminate the danger.

They wrote: ‘Similar public health effects may be assumed for other countries with western life style and moderate or northern climate.

‘We therefore do not recommend that laminate, carpet or floor coverings be laid in the homes of pregnant women.'

They said that doing without powerful adhesives cuts the amount of chemicals released – but doesn’t eliminate the danger.

Survey: The German researchers recommended leaving it a year before carrying out major work (file photos)

They recommend parents wait until their child is at least a year old before doing renovations.

Recent British research suggested doing up old homes could put mothers and unborn babies at risk of lead poisoning.

Lead is now banned in paint, but it can be released from old paint as it is stripped away. 

Potential sources include cornices and skirting boards, as well as floorboards that are being stripped down to create fashionable bare-look flooring.